Crane Trust Nature and Visitor Center - Green Shoe Diaries Blog

Chimps, Cranes and Conservation Come Together at the Crane Trust: Presentation by The Jane Goodall Institute

Wood River, NE- Chimps, cranes and conservation converge this Saturday in an amazing display of nature and its interconnectedness when Bill Wallauer of The Jane Goodall Institute takes center stage at the Crane Trust’s Wild About Nebraska speaker and event series.

Wallauer's presentation, “Chimpanzees and Conservation Around the World”, will start at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 23, and is open and free to the public. 

As chief videographer with The Jane Goodall Institute, Wallauer’s most recent projects include the popular Disneynature film “Chimpanzee” and The Jane Goodall Institute’s “Chimp Champion.” His infectious personality, great stories and jaw-dropping chimpanzee multimedia presentation help audiences understand how chimpanzees are like us—sharing 98 percent of our DNA and so many of our personality traits. 

Last spring, Wallauer experienced Nebraska’s great sandhill crane migration for the first time from a Crane Trust photo/video blind and fell in love with the Platte River and its cranes. Whether it’s the Big Bend reach of the Platte River in Nebraska or Gombe National Park in Tanzania, Wallauer has observed significant similarities in the issues and challenges facing conservation around the world.

After his in-person presentation at the Crane Trust Nature & Visitor Center, Wallauer will also show the film “Chimpanzee” at 1:30 p.m. at the Grand Theater in Grand Island that same day. All proceeds from the viewing of the film will benefit The Jane Goodall Institute.

As part of the Crane Trust’s continuing speaker and event series that day, Jorn Olsen of Jorn Olsen Photography will also speak at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday and help visitors discover the uncommon beauty of Nebraska’s plains. Olsen will be available afterward to sign his award-winning book “Across a Wide Horizon.”

Wine tasting, courtesy of Cedar Hills Vineyard, will also be happening from noon to 4:00 p.m. at the nature and visitor center.

The Crane Trust’s month-long speaker and event series is a public celebration of Nebraska’s Great Sandhill Crane Migration, as more than 500,000 sandhill cranes descend on the Platte River in south-central Nebraska every spring for 3-4 weeks before continuing on to their breeding grounds in the north. 

The Crane Trust is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and maintenance of critical habitat for cranes and other migratory birds along the Platte River through science, habitat management, community outreach, and education.